


What Happens in Veg Lasas

by ZsforSs



Category: Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drunken Kissing, Drunkenness, Gambling, Investigations, M/M, Space Las Vegas, Woke Up Married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:55:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27614492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZsforSs/pseuds/ZsforSs
Summary: Thrawn and Eli wake up in an unfamiliar hotel room, half dressed, and wearing matching rings on their fingers.What exactly happened last night??
Relationships: Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo/Eli Vanto
Comments: 28
Kudos: 109





	What Happens in Veg Lasas

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to MotherRameses for giving this a read through for clarity, punctuation goofs.
> 
> FYI: There's a winning hand of Sabacc called a Yee Haa.

Thrawn woke slowly, reluctantly. He was very comfortable, the sheets soft and his companion warm and pliant on top of him.

He was a bit sweaty though, his shirt clinging unpleasantly to him.

Eli whined and rolled over, off of Thrawn.

_Eli._

Thrawn's eyes snapped open, and then he immediately squeezed them shut as the light streaming from the balcony windows penetrated his skull like a vibrosaw.

His _head..._

"Close drapes," he croaked. Ugh, his mouth tasted _horrible._

There was a friendly chirping sound and the room grew blessedly dim.

Thrawn slowly opened his eyes again.

He realized several things at once. This was not their hotel room. It was a large, elegantly attired room, done up in complex patterns of deep red and gold. The bed was massive and set on a dais and had a canopy overhead.

The carpet was also red and plush and the balcony-- which they had not had before-- immediately across from the bed appeared to have a bath on it.

He could surmise from the logo masquerading as an art piece on one wall that this was the same hotel; they were at least still in the Fellagio. But the last he recalled he and Eli had had two modest and _separate_ rooms on a lower floor. The view out the balcony doors clearly showed they were now on or near the top floor.

Eli groaned and pulled a pillow over his face.

That brought him to his second series of revelations.

He was in bed with Eli.

He was _pantless_ in bed with Eli, though his underwear was in place. Eli was similarly undressed. Though his pants were in place and his shirt missing.

Thrawn, dragged a hand back through his hair and tried to remember what they had done last night- his hair caught on something...something on his finger....

Thrawn pulled his hand away from his hair...

That was a _ring_.

Eli groaned again. Thrawn looked over at him, he was still holding the pillow over his face- and Thrawn caught sight of an identical ring on Eli's hand.

_"Fuck."_

* * *

Eli pulled the pillow off his face, despite the horrible wretched _sunlight._

"What?" he asked. Followed closely was another question when he realized what Thrawn had said. "Did you swear? I didn't think you knew swears."

Thrawn was staring down at him, hair rumbled and with an _enormous_ hickey on his neck.

Eli was struck by the absolute certainty that _he'd_ made that mark.

Why did he know what Thrawn tasted like? Why were they in the same bed together? _Why wasn't he wearing a shirt??_

"Oh fuck." Eli said. "What did we do last night?"

"...I am uncertain."

Eli sat up, even though his brain insisted this was a bad move. He took in the unfamiliar hotel room and the massive bed...

Thrawn wasn't wearing pants.

But Eli was...

"We didn't..." he trailed off, unwilling to actually ask Thrawn if they'd had sex while they were apparently both blackout drunk.

Thrawn understood him though, and shook his head. "I do not believe so. Although we clearly..." He trailed off, his eyes trailing down Eli's neck.

Did he have matching marks on him? _Why_ couldn't he remember anything?

Eli flopped back onto the bed and covered his face in his hands.

Wait.

Eli stared at the ring. Then he stared at Thrawn, who held up his hand sporting an identical ring.

"Did we..."

There was a pleasant chiming sound that made both of them jump.

"This place has a _doorbell_?" Eli asked.

"Stay." Thrawn ordered. He stood, spared a moment to find and pull on his pants, and strode out of the bedroom.

Leaving Eli alone to wonder what the hell had happened last night.

* * *

There was a lavish sitting room with equally stylish decor outside the bedroom. An inactive security droid stood in the corner.

Another droid was setting out covered food dishes on a table near yet another balcony.

"We didn't order anything." Thrawn said as he moved to stand beside the droid.

The droid turned a viewscreen, showing a cartoonish smiling face to him, and answered in a chirpy voice. "Breakfast is provided by the hotel sir, in celebration of your marriage!"

The droid's face briefly turned into a field of falling confetti.

"Our marriage." Thrawn repeated. "Did that happen on site?"

"Not to my knowledge sir." The Droid chirped. "My records indicate you informed the front desk last night when Mr. Vanto upgraded your room."

"I _what?_ "

Eli had come to stand in the bedroom doorway. As he spoke the security droid in the corner powered on.

"Mr. Vanto paid in cash for guests Mr. Vanto and Mr. Thrawn to move the rest of their booked stay to the Honeymoon Suite." The droid said. "Please comm the front desk if you need anything."

Then the little droid rolled off, having laid out the last of their food.

The security droid stepped forward, toward Eli. Thrawn moved without thinking to put himself between the two. The droid stopped and Thrawn could nearly see it processing the situation.

"ELI VANTO." The droid said in a deep heavily digitized voice. "I AM OVERDUE TO RETURN TO MY DOCK. DO YOU REQUIRE MY SERVICES FURTHER?"

"Uh...no?" Eli said.

The droid turned, deposited Eli's messenger bag-- the one he'd worn out last night-- on the nearest couch, where it clinked noisily, and then headed for the door.

"Droid." Thrawn said. The droid stopped but did not turn. "Where are you docked?"

"I AM REGISTERED TO THE C'ZORGRAR'S PALACE CASINO AND RESORT SECURITY DIVISION. DO YOU WISH TO FILE A COMPLAINT?"

"No." Thrawn said. "Thank you."

The droid left, leaving him alone with Eli in their _Honeymoon Suite._

"Kriff I need caf." Eli said. "And something for my head. It's _killing_ me."

"Yes."

* * *

The breakfast droid had brought caf. The most delicious caf Eli had ever tasted. And Thrawn had found analgesics in the bathroom.

They both settled in to eat breakfast in silence.

The spread was impressive, fruit, various types of toasted bread, and sweet smears and preserves. As well as a little selection of savory meats.

Eli felt like _shit_ but he ate, and tried to drink as much water as he did coffee.

Finally, when he was full and felt a little less like he'd been trampled by a bantha he reached for his messenger bag.

His datapad was wedged awkwardly on top of the bag, and under that was an _obscene_ amount of credit ingots.

"Well." Eli said, "That must be how I paid for the room."

Thrawn nodded. "And the presence of the security droid. I believe it is standard procedure for casinos to have such droids escort winners to their lodging."

Eli nodded. He cleared a spot on the table and started counting. As he did he noticed the ingots were not all the same style. Beyond their weight and Imperial sigil credits didn't have a standard look, and the casinos on the strip all had their own fancy designs. He separated the types out as he counted.

"How much is it?" Thrawn asked when Eli finished.

"17,575 credits." Eli said. _That._ Was a lot of money. "Is there a room safe? I don't want to just cart all these around."

They located a room safe in the bedroom and stashed most of the money.

"These ones are from C'zorgrar's Palace." he explained as they did. "But these ones look like they have the Duxor Tetrahedron on them. And most of them were under the ones from C'zorgrar's Palace."

Thrawn nodded. "I suggest we clean up and dress, then we can begin untangling what exactly happened last night."

"Alright. I could definitely do with a shower." Eli agreed. "Um, who gets the bathroom first?"

"You may use it." Thrawn said. "I will use the other tub."

Eli followed his nod to the _outdoor_ tub that was just... on their balcony. For some reason.

"Uh. Right." Eli said, like the thought of Thrawn out there wasn't the sexiest thing he could imagine.

Their luggage was also in the walk in closet, and Eli grabbed clean clothes so he could change in the bathroom. He didn't want to have to walk out to get clothes in a towel, especially if Thrawn was out here _naked._

The bathroom was, like the rest of the suite, huge and beautiful. The whole thing was in black marble, and had another massive tub alongside a separate shower you could have had a staff meeting in.

As he set his clothes down on the counter by the sink he caught sight of himself in the mirror.

 _Wow_.

And he'd thought _Thrawn_ had a massive hickey.

Eli's neck was dotted in bruises all the way around. He hadn't noticed earlier but his lips were slightly puffy too.

Like he'd been furiously making out with someone last night. Three guesses who that had been.

Eli took his time in the shower, scrubbing himself thoroughly and feeling a bit more human after he'd finished. Based on his examinations in the shower they definitely hadn't... consummated. Not surprising considering how drunk they'd both been. But there _was_ the ghost of bruises on his hips, and another vaguely hand-shaped one on his knee.

If his shower took a little longer while Eli thought about Thrawn leaving those bruises well... He was just being considerate and giving Thrawn more time to wash up.

Eli redressed, pulling on a pair of dark blue cargo pants and a plain dark green shirt. Then he spent some time staring at the ring he hadn't bothered to take off even though it felt strange on his hand.

The band was a plain burnished dark grey. Likely titanium or... was it _doonium?_

Eli knew doonium rings existed, but they weren't popular, due to titanium or tungsten doing the same for significantly less money. He wouldn't know for sure until he could check it in a molecular analyzer.

Right. He'd been hiding in here long enough. Time to face his... husband apparently, and find out what had happened yesterday.

 _And then what?_ a quiet part of his mind whispered. _You got married and were apparently making out just, all night. Are you going to ask about that? You know you've had feelings for Thrawn for years. Does he feel the same or were you just the closest warm body to reciprocate when you were both wasted?_

Eli groaned and gently bonked his head against the bathroom door. Finding out what happened first. Dealing with the fallout later.

Right ok, he could do this.

Thrawn was, thankfully, dressed when Eli found him, back in the sitting room. Thrawn's outfit was... technically casual. Grey slacks and a tight sleeveless white shirt with a high collar that mostly concealed the marks on his neck. Thrawn, of course, made this outfit Eli might have worn to the store look _amazing._ He had just, _unfair_ arms.

Eli sat on the sofa and picked up his datapad. "So I remember dinner." Eli said. "And then I dragged you to the Duxor Dessert Bar... And that's about it for me."

Thrawn smiled. "You did not have to drag me," he said. "I remember a bit more. We..."

Thrawn stopped, as if he was remembering something. His lips pressed together briefly and he looked... embarrassed?

"What?" Eli asked, not sure he wanted to know.

"You said you were lucky." Thrawn said. "And then insisted on demonstrating. I remember little after that, but since we were already on the Duxor grounds and considering your winnings from there, it seems nearly certain that we began the unknown portion of our evening there."

"So that's our first stop then."

* * *

Thrawn could not say he was a fan of the weather in Veg Lasas.

At night it was fine, but during the day it was far too warm for his tastes. As such, instead of walking to the Duxor Thrawn hailed a speeder to take him and Eli there quickly.

He held the door open for Eli and slid in after him. It was a tight fit, his thigh pressed up against Eli's as he shut the door behind them.

They rode in silence, until Eli's datapad chimed. He shifted, pressing closer to Thrawn for a moment as he drew out his datapad.

Perhaps the enclosed space had been a bad idea. Thrawn felt hyper aware of all of Eli's movements and after what he recalled from last night it was... distracting.

Eli flushed, and bit his lip. His eyes shifted to Thrawn as he ducked his head and showed him the message he'd received.

It was a series of holophotos of _them_ in varying stages of kissing, posing in the large fountains outside their hotel.

“That explains why we were wet.” Thrawn said. “It appears this is how we ended the night.” The security droid from C'zorgrar's Palace was visible in the background of some of the images, and one close-up of them, standing under the spray of the fountain with their foreheads pressed together, clearly showed Eli already wearing a ring.

“Who took the images?” he asked.

“The message is from some guy who works for one of the companies that have their staff just hanging around and take pictures near tourist spots. The message thanked me for my generosity so I assume I handed him a bunch of credits and told him to take pictures of us in the fountain.”

“Indeed.” Thrawn kept flipping through the images until he reached the last one- featuring him, now carrying Eli as a security guard in a rain slicker and boots shooed them out of the fountain.

He could not remember what it felt like to hold Eli, but it looked pleasant... Perhaps if...

Eli hadn't _complained_ about them being married. If they were truly married.

Once they arrived at Duxor they made their way through the blessedly climate controlled halls to the now closed dessert bar.

“Well, if I was trying to prove I was lucky the closest gambling is the card tables over there. Are you remembering anything else?” Eli said. “I'm drawin' a blank.”

“Unfortunately nothing has jogged my memory.” Thrawn admitted. “And I doubt the casino will let us view their security feeds.”

“Nope.” Eli replied. He looked around, noticing a screen in the corner displaying all the Duxor Resort's amenities and then a mouse droid- a cute round white version customized with the casino's logo- rolled by.

Eli smirked. “Wanna see how good the casino's security is?”

“I would prefer not to get arrested.”

Eli waved a hand. “You can pull your Admiral card and get us out of trouble. Say we're on a secret mission or something.”

Thrawn smiled. “I could. What are you thinking?”

Eli strolled over to the screen and sat at the bench in front of it, sliding up against the wall and gesturing for Thrawn to follow. Thrawn sat beside him. Eli started flipping through dining options on the screen. “I'm thinking mouse droids are notoriously easy to tamper with. See if you can discreetly catch one.”

They sat for some time, Thrawn arranging himself so his back was to Eli's shoulder.

He pretended to people watch while instead watching the little cleaning droids make around the plaza.

Finally one rolled by, only inches from his feet. He deftly got a foot on the far side of the droid and forced it behind him, flipping it over nearly at Eli's feet.

Eli scooped up the droid, hushing it's frantic booping as he popped open a panel on the droid's undercarriage.

As Eli worked Thrawn scanned the area. No one had noticed him abducting the droid and the only security camera he could see was behind Eli, unable to see what he was doing.

“Alright, there we go.” Eli flipped the droid over and set it on the ground between his feet. The little droid beeped grumpily and rolled off.

“Now we wait?” Thrawn said.

“Yep.” Eli said. “It should go check in with maintenance because of its 'accident' and when it plugs in for diagnostics it should transfer the dataplant I installed.”

Eli kept playing around with the screen, now looking through the selection on shows playing at the Duxor- until his datapad chimed.

Eli opened up a program on his pad- and had a number of timestamped links.

“So we left the bar around midnight?” Eli asked.

“I believe so.”

Eli checked recordings for about 5 minutes before finding anything.

“Here we are.” Eli said, turning slightly so Thrawn could see the pad better.

The holo showed them stumbling into the casino, Thrawn with his arms wrapped loosely around Eli's waist, letting Eli lead him across the casino floor to get a player's chip for the games.

Eli pulled up more footage of them wandering around the floor until settling at a sabacc table.

Well, Eli sat at the table, Thrawn hovered beside him, leaning on him more than a little and murmuring in his ear.

He didn't recall any of this, he thought as he watched himself wrap an arm around Eli's waist.

Eli skipped forward a little; they had not moved from the table and Eli had clearly been doing very well.

“I don't remember this.” Eli admitted. “I'm doing pretty good though.”

Thrawn smiled at the similar tracks their minds had taken and nodded.

“Well we're coming up on the end of the round, I'm assuming I win the sabacc pot and the hand but...

Eli trailed off eyes staring through the screen.

“What is it?”

* * *

_Eli's head was spinning, but it was fine. He was sitting so he wouldn't fall over and he could still see the cards._

_Thrawn was a solid warmth against his back- leaning on Eli just as Eli was leaning on him._

“ _Are you going to win?” Thrawn murmured into his ear._

“ _Of course I am.” Eli replied, and twisted to kiss Thrawn's nose._

_Thrawn wrinkled his nose at the sensation. His expression made Eli laugh._

“ _Oh come on,” said the grumpy guy on the right. Eli thought he might be a professional, or he thought he was. He couldn't think of any other reason the guy would be wearing sunshades inside..._

_...Unless._

“ _Do you think he's Pantoran?” he whispered to Thrawn. Or he thought he whispered. Judging by how the third guy- Twi'lek, purple and very quiet- rolled his eyes maybe not. It was just the three of them and the dealer, everyone else had dropped out in the earlier rounds._

“ _He's not even blue.” Thrawn pointed out._

“ _True.”_

“ _Why are you even letting this drunk idiot play?” Sunshades asked the dealer._

_The dealer shrugged._

_Eli laughed again. “I'm fiiine,” he said. “You're just upset I'mma win... I raise by the way.”_

_They played another round, and then another. Thrawn got distracted and settled in to nip and suck at Eli's neck while Eli watched the cards._

_He was totally gonna win._

_As he suspected, the Twi'lek folded, leaving him and Sunshades. When his opponent raised again Eli decided he'd inflated the pot enough and called._

“ _I'm about ta win.” he told Thrawn in Sy Bisti._

_Sunshades looked reeeeal confident though, as he laid out his cards. “I got a Squadron.” he said. It was a low Squadron too, a good hand._

_Buuuuuuuut..._

_Eli grinned and tossed his own cards down. “Yee Haa!”_

_Sunshades started cursing and ripped off his shades to give them the dirtiest look before jumping out of his seat and storming away._

_Eli gave the dealer his player chip to load his winnings. He'd won both the round and sabacc pot. He couldn't remember how much exactly that was but it was a loooot._

“ _Eli,” Thrawn asked. “Did you count cards?”_

_Eli panicked for a second- before realizing Thrawn had asked in Sy Bisti._

_He shushed Thrawn and decided it was time to cash out._

“ _But did you?” Thrawn asked again, in Basic this time._

_Eli kissed Thrawn's cheek, “I'll tell you later alright?”_

_He took his player chip back from the now suspicious looking dealer and stood, wobbling on his feet._

“ _Let's go.” he said, as Thrawn straightened up and looked around, letting Eli lean on him._

“ _Where?” Thrawn asked._

_Eli scanned the riot of lights and signs, finally locating the Cashier. He pointed._

_Thrawn nodded and wrapped an arm around him, hauling him through the crowd while Eli focused mostly on staying upright._

* * *

Eli watched them wobble out of the camera's range.

“You kept asking if I was counting cards,” Eli said. “So I decided to leave before we got kicked out.”

“Where you?” Thrawn asked.

“ _Of course_ I was,” Eli sighed. “But you don't acknowledge that _in_ the casino! They get so upset that their games of chance can be _manipulated_ by basic _math._ ”

Thrawn's lips quirked. “How dare you.”

“The worst, that's me,” Eli said. “A hardened criminal.”

He tracked himself and Thrawn through the casino, to the cashier, and then out a different door leading outside. “Looks like we're heading back outside.” he said, showing Thrawn the video feed.

Thrawn sighed. “Let's go then.”

Eli covered his tracks in Duxor's computer system and off they went, out into the Veg Lasas heat through the doors their past selves had left through.

They began walking toward their hotel, keeping their eyes peeled for anything that would jog their memories.

They passed a few hotels, not seeing anything. It was busy out, tourists crowding the walkways, but Thrawn seemed to be keeping himself between Eli and the bulk of the crowd. His intimidating frame kept people from jostling them.

As they passed the Mandalore Bay Lagoon they both stopped dead. A sign right in front of them announced “A Spectacular Mock Battle show occurring on the hour every hour.”

“We watched that.” Eli said.

“Yes.”

* * *

“ _This is stupid.” Thrawn announced loudly. “This 'battle' makes no sense.”_

_Eli looked away from the gracefully pirouetting jet packed 'warriors.' They were making him dizzy. “I think it's jus' supposed ta look cool.”_

_Thrawn huffed. “It would be so easy to outflank them.” he gestured at the fake combatants and then huffed again and crossed his arms._

_Eli laughed and leaned against Thrawn. “You wanna go watch something else? They got other shows.”_

* * *

“I don't remember where we went next.” Eli said.

Thrawn led them back out onto the sidewalk, C’zorgrar’s Palace was the next casino down. Eli followed on his heels.

Thrawn pointed at the flashing display for the casino. “We went to see _that._ ” 

Eli stared at the ad currently being displayed.

 _The Famous Solar Circus Presents: Reservoir,_ it said.

“I don't remember any of it.” Eli said.

Thrawn, looked away. He seemed...embarrassed?

“What?” Eli asked.

“We did not see much of the show.” Thrawn said. “Security asked us to leave.”

“Wh-”

* * *

_Eli frowned up at the people twirling around on ribbons pretending to be sea life._

_The costumes were nice, he guessed._

_Mostly though it was just boring._

_Eli leaned against Thrawn's shoulder. That was nice. He looked up at Thrawn, he was squinting up at the dancers._

_Eli squirmed in his seat and tried to focus again. But the fish dancers were still boring._

“ _I could do that,” Thrawn said, pointing to one of the men twisting around on a blue ribbon 10 meters off the ground._

“ _No you couldn't.” Eli protested._

“ _I could.” Thrawn insisted. “I'm strong.”_

“ _Pfff...” Eli scoffed._

_Thrawn reached over and scooped Eli out of his seat, setting him back down on Thrawn's lap._

_Eli started giggling and cuddled up against Thrawn's chest. “I ain't sayin' you ain't strong.” he said. He kissed Thrawn's lips. “I'm just sayin' you ain't_ that _strong.”_

_Thrawn grumbled, but Eli distracted him with another kiss, and then another..._

* * *

“Right.” Eli coughed. “So they just kicked us from the show right? I think I remember us being inside the casino still? ...I had to use the refresher.”

“Yes.”

They went inside, making their way through the casino floor, past the entrance to the auditorium, and over to the closest bathroom. Thrawn then went to the closest rows of slot machines.

“I waited for you here.” he said. “And when you came out you started playing slots.”

“I think I remember...”

* * *

_Thrawn was looking at the slot machine he was sitting at like it was gonna bite him._

_That made Eli grin, which he was still doing when he sat himself down on Thrawn's lap._

_Thrawn immediately wrapped his arms around Eli's waist, his hands sliding under Eli's shirt to rest against his skin._

“ _Your hands cold there?” Eli grinned at him. He idly pulled a credit chip out of his bag and fed it into the slot machine._

“ _What are you doing?”_

“ _Makin' it look like we're actually gamblin' instead of just makin' out.” Eli hit the play button as Thrawn pressed their lips together. One of his hands slid down Eli's leg, gripping Eli's knee hard._

_Eli smirked against Thrawn's lips and blindly hit the play button again as the machine made clinking credit sounds. He bit at Thrawn's bottom lip, while Thrawn's hand on his stomach slid lower, toying with the waistband of Eli's pants._

_Suddenly there was blaring noise and flashing lights. Eli jumped and looked back at the slot machine._

“ _Whyzit doing that?”_

_Thrawn blinked at the machine. “I think you won.”_

* * *

They left C'Zorgrar's Palace through the same door their drunken past selves had, although this time without the security droid escort they'd gotten the same time as Eli's winnings.

They continued down the street, their hotel was coming up but they hadn't found--

Thrawn and Eli stopped dead outside a small neon chapel. “Quickest Weddings in Veg Lasas!!” the marquee declared.

“Do you remember this?” Thrawn asked.

“No,” Eli said. “But this must be it huh?”

“Let us find out.”

The bored looking Toydarian behind the counter clearly recognized them.

“Hey hey hey! You signed the paperwork! No refunds or annulments!”

Eli had no idea what to say next, but Thrawn had of course, formulated a plan between the door and the counter.

He pointed to a sign behind the Toydarian. “We aren't here for any of that,” Thrawn assured him. “But we seem to have misplaced our “recording of the blessed event.”

“Oh right. Hold on.” The Toydarian began tapping away at his computer.

Eli noticed the display of rings off to the side and went over to look at them while Thrawn handled the Toydarian.

A memory came back to him as he looked at the display his eyes catching on the label reading--

“ _Doonium,” Eli murmured to himself. He reached out and tugged on Thrawn's shoulder._

“ _Doonium,” he repeated urgently when Thrawn looked over._

_Thrawn came over to lean on him. “Doonium,” he said solemnly._

“ _Oh are you interested in upgrading your ring to a deluxe metal?” the Toydarian said._

“Doonium.” _Thrawn and Eli said at once._

Well, that answered what their rings were made of.

“Ah!” the Toydarian said. “Here it is, it looks like you two were so anxious to get to the honeymoon you walked out without the recording. If you'll plug in a datapad I'll give you a copy.”

* * *

The holo acquired, they left the tacky little chapel and stepped back out into the sweltering heat. From there their path was clear. The fountain, with a gaggle of people taking pictures, was right there and their hotel just behind it. Once they'd finished at the fountain it would have been a short walk to the Fellagio.

The only reason they hadn't seen the chapel on their drive out to Duxor was that it was tucked in a side street with a small sidewalk cafe obscuring it from the main road.

They retreated to their hotel room, settling back in the sitting room where they had breakfast.

Eli sighed as he flopped back onto the sofa. He was fidgeting, chewing on his lip, and avoiding eye contact with Thrawn, suggesting that his discomfort was with Thrawn.

“Eli-”

“I'm sorry.” Eli said, and as he often did Eli poured out all his thoughts at once. “Last night is all a blur to me but I can't help but worry that I mighta overstepped- not _regulations_ or anything, but personal limits, and I wouldn't ever want to do anything to make you uncomfortable-”

“There is no need to apologize.” Thrawn interrupted. He sat beside Eli on the couch.

“But-”

“In fact I believe I may owe you an apology, if for no other reason than I remember how this night began, and should have discussed it with you before this.”

“What do you mean?”

* * *

_The Duxor Dessert Bar was dark, lit by artificial candle light making the space feel intimate even though there had to be 200 people in the place. He and Eli were tucked into a quiet corner, away from prying eyes._

_They'd gotten drinks... Thrawn was not sure how many... and Eli had ordered a cake made with what Thrawn at least considered an unnecessary amount of chocolate._

_Eli seemed to be enjoying it, humming happily as he chewed._

“ _This's been a fun night.” Eli said._

“ _Indeed.”_

“ _Thank ya for comin' out here with me...I like spendin' time with you.”_

“ _As do I.”_

 _As Thrawn watched Eli_ _took another bite of the ridiculously decadent chocolate cake. Thrawn knew he shouldn't, but his eyes lingered on Eli's mouth as it closed around the fork, as he chewed and licked his lips._

_Eli smiled at him. He was leaning toward Thrawn, clearly even drunker than Thrawn was realizing he was._

_He should... They should leave and go sleep this off..._

_"Do you want a taste?" Eli asked, looking up at him with eyes full of naked adoration._

_"Yes." Thrawn said and closed the distance between them, pressing his mouth to Eli's._

_Eli moaned and kissed back eagerly, an arm wrapping around his shoulders to hold him close._

_It was intoxicating. Eli tasted like sugar and chocolate and alcohol but Thrawn was focused more on the feel of those lips against his. He'd wanted to do this for a very long time. So, it seemed, had Eli._

_When they broke apart Eli grinned at him. "Ain't I a lucky one?" he said, his accent stronger than he had ever heard._

_"Luck has nothing to do with it." he said._

_"Oh I am lucky though." Eli took another bite of cake and then grinned at Thrawn. “I should show you.”_

“ _How would you do that?”_

_Eli stood, he almost overbalanced as he did. “We're in Veg Lasas ain't we?”_

_Thrawn wasn't sure he understood, but he nodded. They were in Veg Lasas._

“ _C'mon then sugar.” Eli said, and tugged on Thrawn's arm._

* * *

“As you have said Eli, if I have overstepped any personal bounds then I apologize. I knew we were both intoxicated when I kissed you and yet I did it anyway.” Thrawn explained. He was looking down, not at Eli, as he explained.

Eli swallowed hard, and reached out, laying his hand over Thrawn's hand. “Do you want another taste?”

Thrawn's eyes snapped up to his. “Yes.”

Eli took a deep breath. “Come here then sugar.”

Thrawn was... almost tentative as he bent forward and kissed Eli.

He didn't remember the kiss Thrawn had described to him. But he thought he'd remember this one forever.

“You know we never actually watched the wedding video.”

Thrawn... didn't exactly frown. He let out a long slow breath and just said, “If we must.”

Eli laughed, “It can't be _that_ bad.”

* * *

After a minor debate over where they should watch the holo Eli just scooted over into Thrawn's lap and pulled the recording up.

There were wide varieties of wedding traditions across the galaxy, so the chapel had a number of rooms in different colors. The chitzy intro to the holo mentioned they were in “The Red Room”.

It's name was accurate at least, the walls, floors and every decoration in the room- from the fake flowers to the baubles hanging on the walls at random intervals- were a deep red color.

Watching himself and Thrawn enter the room, Eli wondered how they'd been allowed to go through with the marriage and not just sent home...He was clearly having trouble standing upright. Eli was leaning on Thrawn heavily. Thrawn looked very solemn, or would have if he didn't keep smiling every few seconds, mostly at Eli, but also at the room in general and the officiant who was waiting for them.

The officiant was a male Togruta who appeared to be... really young. Eli couldn't be sure but the man looked to be in his late teens.

“ _Right so do you guys have vows you want to say or should I make something up?”_ the Togruta asked.

“They didn't even edit this out?” Eli asked, as in the holo he and Thrawn's past selves stared blankly at the officiant, and then at each other.

“ _Yes!” Thrawn said suddenly. “We have vows.”_ He gently turned a wobbly Eli around to face him. _“I will tell you what to say and you must say it back exactly yes?”_

“ _Yeah.”_

As drunk Thrawn began slowly reciting a string of unknown syllables to drunk Eli, who parroted them back enthusiastically. Eli felt Thrawn tense under him. He looked up at the man. “What is it?”

“That's Cheunh.” Thrawn said. “ I must have... I do not remember this at all.”

“Well you're less wobbly than me but we're both really plastered so that's not a surprise... What are we saying?”

Thrawn didn't answer immediately.

In the holo Thrawn was apparently happy with Eli's recitations because he nodded and said. _“Now we are ready.”_

“ _Right,” the Torguta said. “Let's-”_

But Thrawn had launched into a speech already. As the recorded Thrawn spoke, Thrawn pressed his mouth to Eli's ear, and translated. “I, Mitth'raw'nuruodo, ranking distant of the Ruling House of Mitth announce my intention to wed Eli Vanto of the House Vanto, a House in good standing but without Ruling status. This union will strengthen both the Mitth House and my own life through the addition of Eli Vanto's exemplar person to it. I freely bind myself to him for all our lives and ever after.”

He continued to translate as Eli replied with the words he'd just learned. “I, Eli Vanto of House Vanto gladly add my strength to that of House Mitth. I freely bind myself to him for all our lives and ever after.”

As his past self finished speaking past Thrawn picked him up and immediately kissed him deeply.

“ _...I'll go get the paperwork I guess.” the Torguta said._

He left, and not long after Eli watched himself pull away from Thrawn's kiss.

“ _We hafta put the rings on!”_

That process took a few minutes of fumbling, first getting the rings out- complicated because Thrawn wouldn't put Eli down- and then getting them on the right fingers. By the time they'd figured it out the Torguta was back.

“ _Sign these.”_ he said, handing them a datapad. “ _We'll file them with the Records Office and you'll get an official copy in 3-4 business days.”_ he continued as the both of them scribbled out what were probably terrible signatures before handing the datapad back.

“ _Now I'll go get-”_

Thrawn had decided they were done though, he simply turned and walked out, carrying Eli bridal style the whole time.

“ _Or just go I guess.”_ the Togruta said to the now empty room. He sighed and the holo ended.

Eli twisted around to look at Thrawn. “You taught me Cheunh wedding vows.”

“I did,” Thrawn said. “I was surprised at that.”

“Why?”

Thrawn pulled Eli tighter to him. “By having us recite the traditional vows it makes our marriage technically legal in the Ascendancy.”

“Technically?”

“Well, generally your … exemplar...ness would be determined by a committee of high ranking family members. Though there is precedent to people declaring their mate's suitability without family approval...”

“So I might have to take an aptitude test if I ever wind up in Chiss space.”

“Perhaps.”

Eli hummed, “Anything else we need to do to make us official in your book?” Eli asked.

“No... have we missed any essential Lysatran elements?”

“Well _technically,_ things ain't official on Lysatra until the wedding night, if you catch my drift.”

Thrawn kissed him, biting Eli's bottom lip as he did. “We'd better go back to bed then,” Thrawn said. “We wouldn't want to forget such an important tradition.”

**Author's Note:**

> The Imperial Navy has no fraternization regulations, I've decided.


End file.
